1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication technology and, more particularly, to multi-user interaction for multimedia communication.
2. Background of the Invention
Multi-User Interaction (MUI) over the Internet has become increasingly popular. For example, virtual chat rooms allow multiple users to interact via text-based communication over the Internet. Multiple users see the text-based messages sent by all other users in the chat room and can send their own text-based message as well, which is then broadcast to all of the other users in the chat room.
Multimedia computing involves the processing and display of digital multimedia data, such as audio, computer graphics, or video data. A variety of standard multimedia protocols have been developed. For example, Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) has developed MPEG-1 (coding of multimedia for digital storage media) and MPEG-2 (coding of moving video and associated audio for digital storage media, television broadcasting, and communication) standards.
MPEG is currently developing an object-based multimedia standard called MPEG-4 for lower bandwidth communication environments, such as the Internet. MPEG-4 defines the bit stream syntax and decoder semantics of encoded media. Version 1 (systems level) of MPEG-4 will be an International Standard in December of 1998. MPEG-4 is directed to a standard for providing single-user object-based multimedia communication from disk, CD-ROM, or via a network (e.g., the World Wide Web (WWW)).